Image 01 Image 03

California Tag

Schools all over the country allowed students to participate in walkouts to protest and demand gun control. But what would happen if students wanted to stage a walkout to protest something like abortion? Would the politics of such a demonstration be equally accepted? California high school teacher Julianne Benzel posed this question to her class. Now she has been placed on leave.

President Donald Trump finally visited California when he landed in the San Diego area to tour the border wall prototypes as part of a whirlwind trip that also included an address to the troops at Marine Air Station Miramar and a swank fundraising dinner in Los Angeles.

At South by Southwest, Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his big plans to sue the oil and gas industry. Schwarzenegger claims the oil and gas industry intentionally caused climate change and "knowingly killing people all over the world." To date, no complaint has been filed, but Schwarzenegger said he is currently working with several law firms.

It's clear that Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) wants to be president.  What's not clear is in what country she wants to president. She wants to be president of a country with no borders, with a Supreme Court that bases its decisions on "feelings" rather than law, with few (preferably no?) gun rights for citizens, with "free" college, with government-run (i.e. single payer) healthcare, with severely restricted speech, with unrestricted abortion funded by taxpayers.  To be fair to Harris, this is the same imaginary country in which all Democrat presidential hopefuls aspire to be president. Harris' ongoing, if not yet announced, 2020 presidential campaign is currently focused on flouting foiling our nation's immigration laws.

The big news from California that Democrats are trying to promote is that there is over $6 billion in an unexpected budget surplus.
"We have to be on our guard. It's not exciting, it's not funding good and nice things, but it's getting ready" for the next recession, [California Governor Jerry] Brown said. But in the five months ahead of a budget revision in May, when the governor's Finance Department will offer updated revenue and spending figures, Democrats in the state legislature are likely to offer their own ideas about how to spend the state's $6.1 billion surplus, beyond the constitutionally mandated $1.5 billion contribution to the rainy day fund.

It appears that over 200 illegal immigrants in Northern California ignored the warnings of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, who warned on Twitter of impending ICE raids.
Federal immigration officials concluded Wednesday a days-long sweep of Northern California in the days since a warning of their raid was blasted out by a public official — a move which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says “created another magnet for more illegal immigration.”

The last time we visited Stockton, California, the city was gearing up to test "Universal Basic Income". Let it not be said that the municipality's insanity is confined to fiscal matters. The educational system has a heavy emphasis on social justice, so it is little wonder that hundreds of the area's school students turned out for anti-gun protests.

California's politicians claim they want to stop pollution, but it appears the bureaucrats who actually implement the regulations our representatives promulgate have different priorities. California's attorney general has charged five former and current employees of Panoche Water District in central California with felonies fraud, abuse . . . and hazardous waste violations.

Democrat Sara Jacobs, 28, has the opportunity to become the youngest congresswoman, but she has come under fire due to her "crusty, old Marine" comment she made during an interview. She denies it was toward her opponent, but even then, it doesn't bode well for her since the 49th district, which she wants to represent, has the West Coast's largest Marine base.

I had a wonderful time in Memphis, Tennessee, during my Presidents' Day weekend stay. The people were charming, the barbecue was outstanding, and the Memphis Pyramid was a joy to behold. There were a few things the streets of Memphis were lacking: Used needles and human excrement. For those treasures, you have to head over to my home state of California and the city of San Francisco.

A former employee has come forward with a new sexual misconduct allegation against California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, who gained fame for speaking out against sexual harassment and became a face of the #MeToo movement. David John Kernick claims that Garcia fired him because he refused to play "spin the bottle" and questioned why she would make staffers play the game.

California is facing a new immigration crisis, this time in the form of large, swamp-dwelling rodents called nutria. Golden State officials are actually asking for help to deal with this unwanted population.
Wildlife officials are asking California residents to report any sightings of nutria — an invasive rodent that eats so much aquatic vegetation that it threatens wetlands and marshes.